A historian has uncovered a pre-World War Two article Winston Churchill wrote about the persecution…
By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) – A British historian has uncovered a pre-World War Two article Winston Churchill wrote about the persecution of Jews but then decided not to publish.
In the long lost article, Britainâs wartime leader disapproved of the treatment they experienced but did say of the Jews: âThey have been partly responsible for the antagonism from which they suffer.â
Cambridge University lecturer Richard Toye, reflecting on his find, said: âWhile most people would accept that Churchill was no anti-Semite, this sheds fascinating new light on his views about Jews which were very inconsistent.â
While researching in the universityâs Churchill archives, the historian uncovered the unpublished article in a pile of proofs and press cuttings. âIt was a dramatic moment,â he said.
âHow The Jews Can Combat Persecution,â originally written in 1937 when it failed to find a publisher, was finally picked up in 1940 for publication by Britainâs Sunday Dispatch newspaper.
But when the paperâs editor formally asked for permission to use the piece, Churchillâs office wrote back and refused, saying publication was âinadvisable.â
Within weeks, Churchill became Prime Minister, leading the fight against the Nazi regime which murdered six million Jews in the Holocaust.
âHe may well have had second thoughts. When he looked at it again, he may well have thought it wasnât the most intelligent thing to say,â Toye told Reuters in an interview.
He uncovered the article while researching for a book he was writing on âLloyd George and Churchill:Rivals For Greatness.â
In the piece, Churchill argued that âthe wickedness of the persecutorsâ was not the only reason for the ill-treatment of Jews down the ages…
READ FULL ARTICLES HERE… | Reuters
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